If you pay taxes in the Town of Delmar, take note: the annual town budget proposal meeting is scheduled for November 10, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. at the Delmar town hall, with the regular monthly meeting to follow. For those seeking a more specific location, the Delmar town hall is stationed at the intersection of 115th Avenue and 320th Street. Just turn right off Highway D or a left off G at 115th Avenue and keep an eye on the north roadside.

Shifting from the budget meeting to come to the meeting this October 13, the mask rate is up of late in Delmar, after registering 25 percent use earlier this year.

Specifically, mask use during the brief October 13 town board meeting ranged between 55.5 and 77.7 percent of attendees with their mouth and nose covered, the spike occurring around bill review time.

Of those in attendance, women (reaching 100 percent at peak use) were more likely than men (60 percent at high mark) to wear the spittle shields, even as men are currently considered more likely to die from the novel coronavirus once contracted, per a “Wisconsin Summary” at the state DHS website.

Shifting from the mask report to more ordinary town matters, it was reported at the October 13 meeting by Chairman Dave Peterson that River Country Co-op had made a sizable donation toward the recent Jaws of Life purchase by the Boyd-Edson-Delmar firefighters, and that the quarterly Fire and Ambulance meeting was coming up soon on the last Monday of the month.

Also touched on was the news that the Town of Delmar had met with the Yellow River Road Association and that the Road Association was looking for assistance, followed by roadway donation.

“They really wish they could blacktop it and have the town take it over,” Peterson said of a road in the development. As for town road matters, the Chairman said that work on 110th Avenue was “complete” and that the ditches on 95th Avenue had been cleaned. Among other road matters to report was the news that too much blue granite had been put down on some (unspecified) town roads, with the disappointing realization ex post facto (“after the fact”) that the roadway material pile had too much rock and not enough binder to hold it all together.

“We won’t do any more roads with it until we see what’s up,” Peterson said of the blue granite situation, adding, “Not really satisfied.”

Shifting from road updates further back to the Treasurer’s report, Debbie Haas had the numbers for September, not official until the end of the year, but reported as follows. In the first place, the Town of Delmar began the month of September with a starting balance of $230,578.60. Receipts for the month totals $1,476.25, with the various income split between a $198 garbage user fee at the Delmar Collection site, $100 for a hall rental to Traci Mason, $1,010 for a fire call bill to Rodney Ryba ($1,000 plus $10 interest), $75 for grading at Peterson Farms, $82 in interest from one account at Citizen’s State Bank, and another $11.25 for interest from checking., coming out to a total monthly balance after receipts of $232,054.85—but then there were disbursements to balance against.

Starting out the accounts payable for September, Hazuga’s was listed as being paid $114.26 for “supplies,” while Roshell got $188 for “mowing.” Exactly $211.49 was paid to River Country Co-op for fuel, while John Olynick received $19,580.40 for “Gravel.” Lube Suppliers was paid $68.94 for “Supplies,” while Central WI Publications got $23.66 for “Publication.” Chippewa Valley Electric got $90.90 for “Service” and Hilco Road Supplies received $4,600 for a similar ledger category. Express Disposal was paid $655.90 by the township for “Service”, while town wages as split between six separate workers totaled $4,699.01. Roger Lingen received $38.34 for Hall Cleaning and Mileage, while Jim Miland received much of the same at $39.44 for “mileage.” A ledger entry styled “The Company” was paid $7,925 for “Service,” while Boyd Trustworthy received $107.55 for “Supplies.” Dave Peterson was rewarded by $32 in exchange for “Hay for Roads,” Wisconsin tax withholdings in Delmar for September totaled $295.40, while overall federal tax withholding on town wages totaled $1,171.94 for the month of September 2020, coming out to a total disbursement value of $39,843.13. Subtracting disbursements from the monthly starting balance after receipts, meant that the town of Delmar registered $192,211.72 in funds on hand as of September 30.

Photo by Joseph Back.